Good to be Home

Wow, what a crazy adventure!!!  We've been home for over 24 hrs now and starting our life as a family of 3.  The best thing I can say about the 16 hr flight is that it's over and we all survived!!!  Ugh, just had to keep thinking it was means to a beautiful end. I actually got to unexpectedly pick up Tyler (a day early) after leaving the airport.  Even though I was exhausted, I was so excited to see him, have him meet Josie and take my sweet kiddos home.  Josie's first car ride in her car seat was less than pleasant, but once she got calmed down with big brother in the car, things got a little easier.  Ty has been precious with her.  Our first meal together was Whataburger (which was the first fast food restaurant we could find...anything was going to be great just to get Josie out of the car and calm her down).  Tyler couldn't even eat because he just wanted to take care of Josie....sharing his food, lemonade and giving her countless "lovins"  He is really taking ownership of being a big brother.  Top of his priority list with his little sister is showing her how to play Mario Kart....his positive that she is going to LOVE IT! We had several family firsts yesterday....trip to the grocery store, went to the pool one last time before it closes and Josie got her first bath at home.  Overall, we're trying to adjust to our normalcy of life, whatever that is going to look like.  I'm very thankful that kids are so resilient.  =) I am so grateful for the MANY prayers that I know were prayed on our behalf.  God is so good!!!  He blessed our trip in more ways than I could have even imagined.  I'm thankful for His protection and gracious provisions.  I'm grateful for the journey of bringing home Josie Marie and excited for what God has in store for my sweet family.  I'll continue to post more pics.

Heading Home!!!

We are at the Addis airport waiting for our flight.  We had an amazing day in the last few hours in this beautiful country.  After breakfast, we were taken to the area where Josie and another little girl were abandoned.  The area in Addis Ababa is a market that is the largest in Africa.  It was a highlight of the trip to get to see the market area.  It was packed with people selling everything you can imagine from food to merchandise to beautiful fabric to building supplies.  It was strictly for locals only.  It wasn't safe for us to get out of the car but we took a ton of pictures from inside.  It was an experience unlike any other!!   Next we went and watched a soccer game basically on a huge asphault lot in front of a track stadium.  It was mainly street kids or kids from families who were struggling.  They are amazing soccer players.  There is a ministry run by the man who manages the guest house we were staying at that helps street kids find a purpose and improve their situation.  We were so thankful to be a part of it.   After lunch, we said our goodbyes at the Guest House with a traditional coffee ceremony.  I'd been stressing about it because I cannot stand coffee and I didn't want to offend anyone.  It was all good and a great experience to witness.    Josie has had a good day and we are praying like crazy for her to sleep as much as possible on the flight.  Of course we're armed with puffs, crackers and suckers....pretty much for the next 28 hrs or so, anything she wants, she gets!!!  Praying for safety and no meltdowns!!!  I'll update as i can.  thanks for your prayers!!!!!!

Great News!!

Josie's passport, visa and all paperwork arrived today!!  YIPPPPPEEEEE!!!!!  I can officially bring her home.  I am beyond excited!!  It has been such a wonderful experience being here and the people are amazing....I HIGHLY recommend the Ethiopian Guest House.....but I am ready to bring my little punkin' home.    She has gotten the meltdowns narrowed down to about one a day...which is super considering the first day.  hopefully soon they will be one every few days!!  =)  Hard to believe we'll be on the plane home in 24 hrs.....definitely need everyone's prayers for that trip home.  We've saved back 2 cans of Gerber "puffs" for the trip...we've been rationing.  She loves those things and i'm hoping that will help make the trip a little more pleasant for the other people trapped on the plane with us.    Tommorrow morning we're going to see the place where she was found after being abandoned.  I'm trying to gather as much information about the country and culture as possible to relay to her as she grows up.  At last count, I think Kelly has taken over 1000 pics as I'm excited to share with everyone very soon.  By the way, have I said before how incredibly cute Josie is???  Ok, just wanted to be sure.  She is smiling and laughing and playing with the other kids.  Tonight, another little girl wanted the book she had and she was very quick to flop her body on top of it.  =)    Her personality can be summed up by this statement....she definitely has her own agenda but she just doesn't share it with anyone else.  But when you don't follow her secret agenda, she is not a happy camper......it makes for fun times!  But she sure is cute!!!!!   Would appreciate prayers for traveling and I'll try to post again if possible.

Great News!

Josie's passport, visa and all paperwork arrived today!!  YIPPPPPEEEEE!!!!!  I can officially bring her home.  I am beyond excited!!  It has been such a wonderful experience being here and the people are amazing....I HIGHLY recommend the Ethiopian Guest House.....but I am ready to bring my little punkin' home.    She has gotten the meltdowns narrowed down to about one a day...which is super considering the first day.  hopefully soon they will be one every few days!!  =)  Hard to believe we'll be on the plane home in 24 hrs.....definitely need everyone's prayers for that trip home.  We've saved back 2 cans of Gerber "puffs" for the trip...we've been rationing.  She loves those things and i'm hoping that will help make the trip a little more pleasant for the other people trapped on the plane with us.    Tommorrow morning we're going to see the place where she was found after being abandoned.  I'm trying to gather as much information about the country and culture as possible to relay to her as she grows up.  At last count, I think Kelly has taken over 1000 pics as I'm excited to share with everyone very soon.  By the way, have I said before how incredibly cute Josie is???  Ok, just wanted to be sure.  She is smiling and laughing and playing with the other kids.  Tonight, another little girl wanted the book she had and she was very quick to flop her body on top of it.  =)    Her personality can be summed up by this statement....she definitely has her own agenda but she just doesn't share it with anyone else.  But when you don't follow her secret agenda, she is not a happy camper......it makes for fun times!  But she sure is cute!!!!!   Would appreciate prayers for traveling and I'll try to post again if possible.

huge strides

Sorry for the abrupt ending of my last post, i heard the gererator sputtering and thought i was about to lose everything so i quickly pressed send just to make sure.  Then when i tried to update more later, the internet was down....seriously, gotta love it!!!   Today has been a super day so far (it's 9:45am here).  Josie woke up so happy after a solid 12 hrs of sleep.  She ate her waffles, which must include syrup for her to be truly happy, and downed her mango juice, which is a definite favorite of hers.  She's been showing off the the staff and other familes by crawling around and flashing those delicious dimples.  i'm a little biased, but she is super cute!!!    We got some other good news today...we're probably going to be able to come back a day early....still waiting for final confirmation.  I'll update more later depending on if we have the winning combination of power AND internet!!  we take so much for granted!!  Thanks again for all of your prayers!!!!

Answered prayers!!!!!

Huge answered prayer today as I passed the Embassy appointment.  It was right up until the last minute.  we arrived late as we were stuck in traffic....which is a whole other blog in and of itself....just picture your life flashing before your eyes over and over....the best way I've heard it describe so far is "cars playing chicken."   4 families with my agency arrived at 2:40 for a 2:00 appointment that basically had to be begged for....the lady was leaving at 3:00 and we didn't know if she was going to accept all 4 families.  Thankfully, she did and all of my paperwork passed.  It was a little crazy to be on American soil for a little bit, although it didn't really feel like it other than the lovely picture of Hillary Clinton hung above the window I was at doing the transactions.   I will get Josie's passport and visa on Friday morning and will start traveling back Sat night.  Only a couple more hurdles to go until we are finally home!    Josie is doing better by leaps and bounds as each day passes.

prayer

hey guys.....   i just received a call from our in country coordinator.  he said that some paperwork was not submitted in time and we will NOT be having our embassy appointment tomorrow (wednesday).  we (five families) are going to the embassy in the morning to talk to them to see if an exception can be made.  please be praying that they will allow us to have our appointment tomorrow.   if we don't have it tomorrow, we will have to wait until next wednesday for our appointment which would mean that we would not be able to come home until a week from saturday.  which would mean that josie and i would be traveling alone because kelly will have to go back.    we have one saving grace....there is a guy (who is adopting also) staying here at the guest house that has a friend who works at the embassy.  we are hoping that he will be able to help us.    please pray that the embassy will hear our case tomorrow so that we can leave on saturday (we won't get josie's visa until friday afternoon....it takes two days to get the visa after the appointment).

Good News

Josie is doing much better today.  She is eating like a champ....she doesn't even like the sight of a bottle or rice cereal...evidently that was so last year.  She loves black olives, pizza and corn flakes and is absolutely crazy about mango juice!!  She drank two full adult-sized glasses at breakfast this morning.  :)   She's had a couple of meltdowns, but can easily turn them off and on like a light switch...pretty sure she's playing me.  The one thing we're still waiting to kick in with her is her plumbing....be praying.    The accomidations are very nice here....the people are super nice and very willing to help in any way possible.  I'm very thankful that we're staying at a place with all adoptive families.  It's been great to share our experiences.  Josie is here with 3 other children that were at her foster home so she is still seeing some familiar faces.   Still working on the picture thing...not sure how it's going to happen as it took me 30 min just to get logged on to yahoo email at be able to compose a message.  More when I get a chance.

Huge Praise!!!

Josie Marie is in my arms!!!!  And literally, that's about the only place she is.  She's had a little bit of a rough transition, but she definitely knows that I'm her mama. :)  She is absolutely beautiful!!  I got my first look at her in person as we were driving thru the gates at the foster home, she was chilling out in her walker in the doorway just checking things out.    She's got a little flare for drama and I'm detecting a little bit of a strong will  : )  She is all about things on her terms.  So far, she's not so much into eating, I did get her to drink some water this morning and am hoping she will eat something at breakfast.  She cried quite a bit yesterday, but would always calm when she snuggled up into my chest.  She slept pretty well last night, only woke up a few times and would go back to sleep if she was laying on me.    The most precious time came this morning...she woke up next to me and we just looked at each other for 5 min, she did not take her eyes off of me.  I even got a smile out of her this morning  :)    I'll update as I can...we didn't have power yesterday....just all part of this amazing experience!!!  I'm going to try and post a pic when I can.  Thanks again for all of your prayers...please pray specifically for her transistion with me.  She's not a big fan of change and she's all about her terms.  Also pray she will start bonding with Kelly so the 16 hr plane ride home will be a little better if we can share the responsibilities.  Right now, I'll be happy if she eats today and hopefully some more smiles!!!  :)

we made it to addis!  on the way back from the airport i saw cows, sheep, goats, roosters, and donkeys on the side of the road.  it is amazing they don't wander into the street.  i also saw three people going to the bathroom.  don't see that every day!

 

we went shopping this afternoon....that was an experience.  the people are amazingly nice....even when they are begging.  :)

 

i get to meet josie tomorrow afternoon!  yeah!  it will be about 4am your time.  i can't wait.

 

i am hoping to post some pictures tomorrow!

 

 

first leg of the trip is down.  12 hour lay over in dubai.  we just took advantage and took a tour of the city.  this will probably be my only time to be in dubai!  lots of money floating around this place. the plane ride was bearable.  i watched alot of movies but did not get a lot of sleep.  we are about to eat dinner (11pm) and have to be back up to the airport at 6am.  yikes!  not good getting eight hours of sleep in 48 hours!  oh well, we are getting to experience things that i have never done or seen before.  the muslim prayer in the airport, emirates mall with indoor snow skiing and the atlantis resort (8 star hotel) were all firsts for kelly and i. hopefully tomorrow we will get to love on josie and kiss those cheeks for the first time....if not, for sure on monday!  :)  thanks for your prayers!  i will update as i can.

today is tylers birthday. i had a great with him celebrating his fourth year of life. i love that little guy. it was hard for me drop him off with his dad. kelly and i are just about to board the plane for our fifteen hour flight. ugh. i cant wait to get there. thanks for all your prayers. i hope to update you from dubai.

if you see tyler next week please give him a hug from his momma.

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I found out yesterday that I will be traveling this weekend to pick up Josie! I leave on Friday....taking a direct flight to Dubai....spending the night (Saturday night) in Dubai (hotel paid for by the airlines!) and going to Addis Ababa in the morning. Very exciting! :)

learn something new everyday!

i now know how to post from my e-mail. you can teach an old dog new tricks! :) i am now ready to travel....

does this work?

I have set up this blog for people to follow me while I take my trip to Ethiopia to pick up my little girl....Josie Marie!

More to follow!